UC-NRLF 


B    M    1D1    SMfi 


The  Jewel  Merchants 


This  edition  is  limited  to  one  thousand  and 
forty  numbered  copies,  of  which  one  hun 
dred  copies  have  been  signed  by  the  author. 

Copy  Number  ..W..3.1... 


BOOKS  by  MR.  CABELL 

Biography: 

BEYOND  LIFE 
FIGURES  OF  EARTH 
DOMNEI 
CHIVALRY 

JURGEN 

THE  LINE  OF  LOVE 

GALLANTRY 

THE  CERTAIN  HOUR 

THE  CORDS  OF  VANITY 

FROM  THE  HIDDEN  WAY 

THE  RIVET  IN  GRANDFATHER'S  NECK 

THE  EAGLE'S  SHADOW 

THE  CREAM  OF  THE  JEST 

Scholia: 

THE  JUDGING  OF  JURGEN 

TABOO 

JOSEPH  HERGESHEIMER 

THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 

THE  LINEAGE  OF  LICHFIELD 


The  Jewel  Merchants 

A  Comedy  in  One  Act 


By 
James  Branch  Cabell 


"Io  non  posso  ritrar  di  tutti  appieno: 
pero  chi  si  ?ni  caccia  il  lungo  tema, 
che  molte  volte  al  fatto  il  dir  men  meno* 


NEW  YORK 

ROBERT  M.  McBRIDE  fcf  COMPANY 
1921 


Copyright,      1921,      by 
JAMES      BRANCH      CABELL 


The  acting  rights  to  "The  Jewel  Merchants"  are 
reserved  by  the  author,  to  whom  application  must 
be  made  for  the  privilege  of  performing  this  play. 


Printed        in        the 
United     States     of     America 


Published,        1921 


TO 

LOUISE  BURLEIGH 

This  latest  avatar  of  so  many  notions 

which  were  originally  hers* 


'798839 


THE  AUTHOR'S  PROLOGUE;-  ;  i 

Prudence  urges  me  here  to  forestall  detection, 
by  conceding  that  this  brief  play  has  no  pretension 
to  l '  literary ' '  quality.  It  is  a  piece  in  its  inception 
designed  for,  and  in  its  making  swayed  by,  the 
requirements  of  the  little  theatre  stage.  The  one 
virtue  which  anybody  anywhere  could  claim  for 
The  Jewel  Merchants  is  the  fact  that  it  "acts" 
easily  and  rather  effectively. 

And  candor  compels  the  admission  forthwith 
that  the  presence  of  this  anchoritic  merit  in  the 
wilderness  is  hardly  due  to  me.  When  circum 
stances  and  the  Little  Theatre  League  of  Rich 
mond  combined  to  bully  me  into  contriving  the 
dramatization  of  a  short  story  called  Balthazar's 
Daughter,  I  docilely  converted  this  tale  into  a  one- 
act  play  of  which  you  will  find  hereinafter  no 
sentence.  The  comedy  I  wrote  is  now  at  one  with 
the  lost  dramaturgy  of  Pollio  and  of  Posidippus, 
and  is  even  less  likely  ever  to  be  resurrected  for 
mortal  auditors. 

It  read,  I  still  think,  well  enough :  I  am  certain 
that,  when  we  came  to  rehearse,  the  thing  did  not 
"act"  at  all,  and  that  its  dialogue,  whatever  its 

9 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


other  graces,  had  the  defect  of  being  unspeakable. 
So  at  each  rehearsal  we — by  which  inclusive  pro 
noun  I  would  embrace  the  actors  and  the  produc 
ing  staff  at  large,  and  with  especial  (metaphorical) 
ardor  Miss  lLouis'3  Burleigh,  who  directed  all — 
changed  here  a  little,  and  there  a  little  more ;  and 
shifted  this  bit,  and  deleted  the  other,  and  "  tried 
out"  everybody's  suggestions  generally,  until  we 
got  at  least  the  relief  of  witnessing  at  each  re 
hearsal  a  different  play.  And  steadily  my  manu 
script  was  enriched  with  interlineations,  to  and 
beyond  the  verge  of  legibility,  as  steadily  I  sub 
stituted,  for  the  speeches  I  had  rewritten  yester 
day,  the  speeches  which  the  actor  (having  per 
fectly  in  mind  the  gist  but  not  the  phrasing  of  what 
was  meant)  delivered  naturally. 

This  process  made,  at  all  events,  for  what  we 
in  particular  wanted,  which  was  a  play  that  the 
League  could  stage  for  half  an  evening's  enter 
tainment;  but  it  left  existent  not  a  shred  of  the 
rhetorical  fripperies  which  I  had  in  the  beginning 
concocted,  and  it  made  of  the  actual  first  public 
performance  a  collaboration  with  almost  as  many 
contributing  authors  as  though  the  production  had 
been  a  musical  comedy. 

And  if  only  fate  had  gifted  me  with  an  exigent 
conscience  and  a  turn  for  oratory,  I  would,  I  like 
to  think,  have  publicly  confessed,  at  that  first  pub 
lic  performance,  to  all  those  tributary  clarifying 

10 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


rills  to  the  play's  progress:  but,  as  it  was,  vain 
glory  combined  with  an  aversion  to  ^speech- 
making"  to  compel  a  taciturn  if  smirking  accept 
ance  of  the  curtain-call  with  which  an  indulgent 
audience  flustered  the  nominal  author  of  The 
Jewel  Merchants.  .  .  .  Now,  in  any  case,  it  is  due 
my  collaborators  to  tell  you  that  The  Jewel  Mer 
chants  has  amply  fulfilled  the  purpose  of  its  mak 
ers  by  being  enacted  to  considerable  applause, — 
and  is  a  pleasure  to  add  that  this  succes  d'estime 
was  very  little  chargeable  to  anything  which  I 
contributed  to  the  play. 

For  another  matter,  I  would  here  confess  that 
The  Jewel  Merchants,  in  addition  to  its  "literary" 
deficiencies,  lacks  moral  fervor.  It  will,  I  trust, 
corrupt  no  reader  irretrievably,  to  untr  avers  able 
leagues  beyond  the  last  hope  of  redemption:  but, 
even  so,  it  is  a  frankly  unethical  performance. 
You  must  accept  this  resuscitated  trio,  if  at  all, 
very  much  as  they  actually  went  about  Tuscany,  in 
long  ago  discarded  young  flesh,  when  the  one  trait 
everywhere  common  to  their  milieu  was  the  ab 
sence  of  any  moral  excitement  over  such-and-such 
an  action's  being  or  not  being  "wicked."  This 
phenomenon  of  Renaissance  life,  as  lived  in  Italy 
in  particular,  has  elsewhere  been  discussed  time 
and  again,  and  I  lack  here  the  space,  and  the  de 
sire,  either  to  explain  or  to  apologize  for  the  era's 
delinquencies.  I  would  merely  indicate  that  this 

11 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


point  of  conduct  is  the  fulcrum  of  The  Jewel 
Merchants. 

The  play  presents  three  persons,  to  any  one  of 
whom  the  committing  of  murder  or  theft  or  adul 
tery  or  any  other  suchlike  interdicted  feat,  is  just 
the  risking  of  the  penalty  provided  against  the 
breaking  of  that  especial  law  if  you  have  the  vile 
luck  to  be  caught  at  it :  and  this  to  them  is  all  that 
"  wickedness "  can  mean.  We  nowadays  are  en 
couraged  to  think  differently :  but  such  dear  priv 
ileges  do  not  entitle  us  to  ignore  the  truth  that 
had  any  of  these  three  advanced  a  dissenting  code 
of  conduct,  it  would,  in  the  time  and  locality,  have 
been  in  radical  irreverence  of  the  best-thought-of 
tenets.  There  was  no  generally  recognized  crim 
inality  in  crime,  but  only  a  perceptible  risk.  So 
must  this  trio  thriftily  adhere  to  the  accepted  cus 
toms  of  their  era,  and  regard  an  infraction  of  the 
Decalogue  (for  an  instance)  very  much  as  we  to 
day  look  on  a  violation  of  our  prohibition  enact 
ments. 

In  fact,  we  have  accorded  to  the  Eighteenth 
Amendment  almost  exactly  the  status  then  re 
served  for  Omnipotence.  You  found  yourself  con 
fronted  by  occasionally  enforced  if  obviously 
unreasonable  supernal  statutory  decrees,  which 
every  one  broke  now  and  then  as  a  matter  of  con 
venience  :  and  every  now  and  then,  also,  somebody 
was  caught  and  punished,  either  in  this  world  or 

12 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


in  the  next,  without  his  ill-fortune's  involving  any 
disgrace  or  particular  reprehension.  As  has  been 
finely  said,  righteousness  and  sinfulness  were  for 
the  while  "in  strange  and  dreadful  peace  with  each 
other.  The  wicked  man  did  not  dislike  virtue,  nor 
the  good  man  vice :  the  villain  could  admire  a  saint, 
and  the  saint  could  excuse  a  villain,  in  things  which 
we  often  shrink  from  repeating,  and  sometimes 
recoil  from  believing." 

Such  was  the  sixteenth-century  Tuscan  view  of 
* '  wickedness. ' '  I  have  endeavored  to  reproduce  it 
without  comment. 

So  much  of  ink  and  paper  and  typography  may 
be  needed,  I  fear,  to  remind  you,  in  a  more  exhor- 
tatory  civilization,  that  Graciosa  is  really,  by  all 
the  standards  of  her  day,  a  well  reared  girl.  To 
the  prostitution  of  her  body,  whether  with  or  with 
out  the  assistance  of  an  ecclesiastically  acquired 
husband,  she  looks  forward  as  unconcernedly  as 
you  must  by  ordinary  glance  out  of  your  front  win 
dow,  to  face  a  vista  so  familiar  that  the  discovery 
of  any  change  therein  would  be  troubling.  Mean 
while  she  wishes  this  sorrow-bringing  Eglamore 
assassinated,  as  the  obvious,  the  most  convenient, 
and  indeed  the  only  way  of  getting  rid  of  him :  and 
toward  the  end  of  the  play,  alike  for  her  and  Guido, 
the  presence  of  a  corpse  in  her  garden  is  merely 
an  inconvenience  without  any  touch  of  the  grue 
some.  Precautions  have,  of  course,  to  be  taken  to 

13 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


meet  the  emergency  which  has  arisen:  but  in  the 
dead  body  of  a  man  per  se,  the  lovers  can  detect 
nothing  more  appalling,  or  more  to  be  shrunk 
from,  than  would  be  apparent  if  the  lifeless  object 
in  the  walkway  were  a  dead  flower.  The  thing 
ought  to  be  removed,  if  only  in  the  interest  of  tidi 
ness,  but  there  is  no  call  to  make  a  pother  over  it. 

As  for  our  Guido,  he  is  best  kept  conformable 
to  modern  tastes,  I  suspect,  by  nobody's  prying 
too  closely  into  the  earlier  relations  between  the 
Duke  and  his  handsome  minion.  The  insistently 
curious  may  resort  to  history  to  learn  at  what 
price  the  favors  of  Duke  Alessandro  were  secured 
and  retained :  it  is  no  part  of  the  play. 

Above  all,  though,  I  must  remind  you  that  the 
Duke  is  unspurred  by  malevolence.  A  twinge  of 
jealousy  there  may  be,  just  at  first,  to  find  his 
pampered  Eglamore  so  far  advanced  in  the  good 
graces  of  this  pretty  girl,  but  that  is  hardly  im 
portant.  Thereafter  the  Duke  is  breaking  no  law, 
for  the  large  reason  that  his  preference  in  any 
matter  is  the  only  law  thus  far  divulged  to  him. 
As  concerns  the  man  and  the  girl  he  discovers  on 
this  hill-top,  they,  in  common  with  all  else  in 
Tuscany,  are  possessions  of  Duke  Alessandro 's. 
They  can  raise  no  question  as  to  how  he  "  ought " 
to  deal  with  them,  for  to  your  chattels,  whether 
they  be  your  finger  rings  or  your  subjects  or  your 
pomatum  pots  or  the  fair  quires  whereon  you  in- 

14 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


dite  your  verses,  you  cannot  rationally  be  said  to 
"owe"  anything.  .  .  .  No,  the  Duke  is  but  a 
spirited  lad  in  quest  of  amusement :  and  Guido  and 
Graciosa  are  the  playthings  with  which,  on  this 
fine  sunlit  morning,  he  attempts  to  divert  himself. 
This  much  being  granted — and  confessed, — we 
let  the  play  begin. 

Dumbarton  Grange, 
June,  1921 


15 


["Alessandro  de  Medici  is  generally  styled 
by  the  Italian  authors  the  first  duke  of  Flor 
ence;  but  in  this  they  are  not  strictly  accurate. 
His  title  of  duke  was  derived  from  Citta,  or 
Civita  di  Penna,  and  had  been  assumed  by  him 
several  years  before  he  obtained  the  direction 
of  the  Florentine  state.  It  must  also  be  ob 
served,  that,  after  the  evasion  of  Eglamore, 
Duke  Alessandro  did  not,  as  Robertson  ob 
serves,  'enjoy  the  same  absolute  dominion  as 
his  family  have  retained  to  the  present  times,3 
(Hist.  Charles  V.  book  v.)  he  being  only  de 
clared  chief  or  prince  of  the  republic,  and  his 
authority  being  in  some  measure  counteracted 
or  restrained  by  two  councils  chosen  from  the 
citizens,  for  life,  one  of  which  consisted  of 
forty-eight,  and  the  other  of  two  hundred  mem 
bers.  (Varchi,  Storia  Fior.  p.  497:  Nerli,  Com. 
lib.  xi.  pp.  257,  264.)"] 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 
"Diamente  ne  smeraldo  ne  zaffino." 


Originally  produced  by  the  Little  Theatre 
League  of  Eichmond,  Virginia,  at  the  Binford 
High  School  Auditorium,  22  February,  1921. 

Original  Cast 

GRACIOSA Elinor  Fry 

Daughter  of  Balthazar  Valori 

GUIDO Eoderick  Maybee 

A  jewel  merchant 

ALESSANDRO  DE  MEDICI Francis  F.  Bierne 

Duke  of  Florence 

Produced  under  the  direction  of  Louise  Burleigh. 


18 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 

rHE  play  begins  ivith  the  sound  of  a  woman's 
voice  singing  a  song  (adapted  from  Ros- 
setti's  version)  which  is  delivered  to  the 
accompaniment  of  a  lute. 

SONG: 

Let  me  have  dames  and  damsels  richly  clad 

To  feed  and  tend  my  mirth, 
Singing  by  day  and  night  to  make  me  glad. 

Let  me  have  fruitful  gardens  of  great  girth 
Filled  with  the  strife  of  birds, 
With  water-springs  and  beasts  that  house  i'  the  earth. 

Let  me  seem  Solomon  for  lore  of  words, 
Samson  for  strength,  for  beauty  Absalom. 

Knights  as  my  serfs  be  given ; 

And  as  I  will,  let  music  go  and  come, 
Till,  when  I  will,  I  will  to  enter  Heaven. 

As  the  singing  endst  the  curtain  rises  upon  a 
corner  of  Balthazar  Valori's  garden  near  the 
northern  border  of  Tuscany.  The  garden  is 
walled.  There  is  a  shrine  in  the  wall:  the  tortured 

19 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


figure  upon  the  crucifix  is  conspicuous.  To  the 
right  stands  a  rather  high-backed  stone  bench: 
by  mounting  from  the  seat  to  the  top  of  the  bench 
it  is  possible  to  scale  the  wall.  To  the  left  a  crim 
son  pennant  on  a  pole  shows  against  the  sky.  The 
period  is  1533,  and  a  feiv  miles  southward  the 
Florentines,  after  three  years  of  formally  recog 
nizing  Jesus  Christ  as  the  sole  lord  and  king  of 
Florence,  have  lately  altered  matters  as  pro 
foundly  as  ivas  possible  by  electing  Alessandro  de 
Medici  to  be  their  Duke. 

GBACIOSA  is  seated  upon  the  bench,  with  a  lute. 
The  girl  is,  to  our  modern  taste,  very  quaintly 
dressed  in  gold-colored  satin,  with  a  short  tight 
bodice,  cut  square  and  low  at  the  neck,  and  with 
long  full  skirts.  When  she  stands  erect,  her  pre 
posterous  "flowing"  sleeves,  lined  with  sky  blue, 
reach  to  the  ground.  Her  blonde  hair,  of  which 
she  has  a  great  deal,  is  braided,  in  the  intricate 
early  sixteenth  fashion,  under  a  jeweled  cap  and  a 
veil  the  exact  color  of  this  hair. 

There  is  a  call.  Smiling,  GBACIOSA  answers  this 
call  by  striking  her  lute.  She  pats  straight  her 
hair  and  gown,  and  puts  aside  the  instrument. 
GUIDO  appears  at  the  top  of  the  wall.  All  you  can 
see  of  the  handsome  young  fellow,  in  this  posture, 
is  that  he  wears  a  green  skull-cap  and  a  dark  blue 
smock,  the  slashed  sleeves  of  which  are  lined  with 
green. 

20 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


GUIDO 
Ah,  madonna.  .  .  . 

GEACIOSA 

Welcome,  Ser  Guido.  Your  journey  has  been 
brief. 

GUIDO 
It  has  not  seemed  brief  to  me. 

GEACIOSA 

Why,  it  was  only  three  days  ago  you  told  me 
it  would  be  a  fortnight  before  you  came  this  way 
again. 

GUIDO 

Yes,  but  I  did  not  then  know  that  each  day  spent 
apart  from  you,  Madonna  Graciosa,  would  be  a 
century  in  passing. 

GEACIOSA 

Dear  me,  but  your  search  must  have  been  des 
perate  ! 

GUIDO 

(Who  speaks,  as  almost  always  hereinafter,  with 
sober  enjoyment  of  the  fact  that  he  is  stating  the 
exact  truth  unintelligibly.)  Yes,  my  search  is  des 
perate. 

GEACIOSA 
Did  you  find  gems  worthy  of  your  search? 

GUIDO 

Very  certainly,  since  at  my  journey's  end  I  find 

21 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


Madonna  Graciosa,  the  chief  jewel  of  Tuscany. 

GBACIOSA 

Such  compliments,  Guido,  make  your  speech  less 
like  a  merchant's  than  a  courtier's. 

GUIDO 

Ah,  well,  to  balance  that,  you  will  presently  find 
courtiers  in  Florence  who  will  barter  for  you  like 
merchants.  May  I  descend? 

GKACIOSA 

Yes,  if  you  have  something  of  interest  to  show 
me. 

GUIDO 

Am  I  to  be  welcomed  merely  for  the  sake  of  my 
gems?  You  were  more  gracious,  you  were  more 
beautifully  like  your  lovely  name,  on  the  fortunate 
day  that  I  first  encountered  you  .  .  .  only  six 
weeks  ago,  and  only  yonder,  where  the  path  crosses 
the  highway.  But  now  that  I  esteem  myself  your 
friend,  you  greet  me  like  a  stranger.  You  do  not 
even  invite  me  into  your  garden.  I  much  prefer 
the  manner  in  which  you  told  me  the  way  to  the 
inn  when  I  was  an  unknown  passer-by.  And  yet 
your  pennant  promised  greeting. 

GRACIOSA 

(With  the  smile  of  an  exceptionally  candid 
angel.)  Ah,  Guido,  I  flew  it  the  very  minute  the 

22 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


boy  from  the   inn  brought  me  your  message! 

GUIDO 

Now,  there  is  the  greeting  I  had  hoped  for! 
But  how  do  you  escape  your  father's  watch  so 
easily? 

GRACIOSA 

My  father  has  no  need  to  watch  me  in  this  lonely 
hill  castle.  Ever  since  I  can  remember  I  have 
wandered  at  will  in  the  forest.  My  father  knows 
that  to  me  every  path  is  as  familiar  as  one  of  the 
corridors  in  his  house ;  and  in  no  one  of  them  did 
I  ever  meet  anybody  except  charcoal-burners,  and 
sometimes  a  nun  from  the  convent,  and — oh,  yes ! 
— you.  But  descend,  friend  Guido. 

Thus  encouraged,  GUIDO  descends  from  the  top 
of  the  wall  to  the  top  of  the  bench,  and  thence,  via 
its  seat,  to  the  ground.  You  are  thereby  enabled 
to  discover  that  his  nether  portions  are  clad  in 
dark  blue  tights  and  soft  leather  shoes  with 
pointed  turned-up  toes.  It  is  also  noticeable  that 
he  carries  a  jewel  pack  of  purple,  which,  when 
opened,  reveals  an  orange  lining. 

GUIDO 

( With  as  much  irony  as  the  pleasure  he  takes  in 
being  again  with  this  dear  child  permits.)  That 
*  '  Oh,  yes,  you ! "  is  a  very  fitting  reward  for  my 
devotion.  For  I  find  that  nowadays  I  travel  about 

23 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


the  kingdom  buying  jewels  less  for  my  patrons  at 
court  than  for  the  pleasure  of  having  your  eyes 
appraise  them,  and  smile  at  me. 

GBACIOSA 

(With  the  condescension  of  a  great  lady.) 
Guido,  you  have  in  point  of  fact  been  very  kind 
to  me,  and  very  amusing,  too,  in  my  loneliness  on 
the  top  of  this  hill.  (Drawing  back  the  sleeve  from 
her  left  arm,  she  reveals  the  trinket  there.)  See, 
here  is  the  turquoise  bracelet  I  had  from  you  the 
second  time  you  passed.  I  wear  it  always — 
secretly. 

GUIDO 

That  is  wise,  for  the  turquoise  is  a  talisman. 
They  say  that  the  woman  who  wears  a  turquoise 
is  thereby  assured  of  marrying  the  person  whom 
she  prefers. 

GBACIOSA 

I  do  not  know  about  that,  nor  do  I  expect  to 
have  much  choice  as  to  what  rich  nobleman  mar 
ries  me,  but  I  know  that  I  love  this  bracelet — 

GUIDO 
In  fact,  they  are  handsome  stones. 

GBACIOSA 

Because  it  reminds  me  constantly  of  the  hours 
which  I  have  spent  here  with  my  lute — 

24 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


GUIDO 
Oh,  with  your  lute ! 

GBACIOSA 
And  with  your  pack  of  lovely  jewels — 

GUIDO 
Yes,  to  be  sure !  with  my  jewels. 

GRACIOSA 
And  with  you. 

GUIDO 

There  is  again  my  gracious  lady.  Now,  in  re 
ward  for  that,  you  shall  feast  your  eyes. 

GRACIOSA 

(All  eagerness.)    And  what  have  you  to-day! 
GUIDO  opens  his  pack.    She  bends  above  it  with 
hands  outstretched. 

GUIDO 

(Taking  out  a  necUace.)  For  one  thing,  pearls, 
black  pearls,  set  with  a  clasp  of  emeralds.  See ! 
They  will  become  you. 

GBACIOSA 

(Taking  them,  pressing  them  to  her  cheek.) 
How  cool !  But  I — poor  child  of  a  poor  noble — I 
cannot  afford  such. 

GUIDO 

Oh,  I  did  not  mean  to  offer  them  to  you  to-day. 
25 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


No,  this  string  is  intended  for  the  Duke's  favorite, 
Count  Eglamore. 

GKACIOSA 

(Stiffening.)  Count  Eglamore!  These  are  for 
him? 

GUIDO 
For  Count  Eglamore. 

GRACIOSA 
Has  the  upstart  such  taste? 

GUIDO 

If  it  be  taste  to  appreciate  pearls,  then  the 
Duke's  chief  officer  has  excellent  taste.  He  seeks 
them  far  and  wide.  He  will  be  very  generous  in 
paying  for  this  string. 

GKACIOSA  drops  the  pearls,  in  which  she  no  longer 
delights.  She  returns  to  the  bench,  and  sits  down, 
and  speaks  with  a  sort  of  disappointment. 

GKACIOSA 

I  am  sorry  to  learn  that  this  Eglamore  is  among 
your  patrons. 

GUIDO 

(Still  half  engrossed  by  the  contents  of  his  pack. 
The  man  loves  jewels  equally  for  their  value  and 
their  beauty.)  Oh,  the  nobles  complain  of  him,  but 
we  merchants  have  no  quarrel  with  Eglamore.  He 
buys  too  lavishly. 

26 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


GBACIOSA 
Do  you  think  only  of  buying  and  selling,  GuidoT 

GUIDO 

It  is  a  pursuit  not  limited  to  us  who  frankly  live 
by  sale  and  purchase.  Count  Eglamore,  for  ex 
ample,  knows  that  men  may  be  bought  as  readily 
as  merchandise.  It  is  one  reason  why  he  is  so 
hated — by  the  unbought. 

GBACIOSA 

(Irritated  by  the  title.)  Count  Eglamore,  in 
deed  !  I  ask  in  my  prayers  every  night  that  some 
honest  gentleman  may  contrive  to  cut  the  throat 
of  this  abominable  creature. 

GUIDO 

(His  hand  going  to  his  throat.)  You  pray  too 
much,  madonna.  Even  very  pious  people  ought  to 
be  reasonable. 

GBACIOSA 

(Rising  from  the  bench.)  Have  I  not  reason  to 
hate  the  man  who  killed  my  kinsman? 

GUIDO 

(Rising  from  his  gems.)  The  Marquis  of  Cibo 
conspired,  or  so  the  court  judged — 

GBACIOSA 

I  know  nothing  of  the  judgment.    But  it  was 
27 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


this  Eglamore  who  discovered  the  plot,  if  there  in 
deed  was  any  plot,  and  who  sent  my  cousin  Cibo  to 
a  death — (pointing  to  the  shrine) — oh,  to  a  death 
as  horrible  as  that.  So  I  hate  him. 

GUIDO 
Yet  you  have  never  even  seen  him,  I  believe? 

GRACIOSA 

And  it  would  be  better  for  him  never  to  see  me 
or  any  of  my  kin.  My  father,  my  uncles  and  my 
cousins  have  all  sworn  to  kill  him — 

GUIDO 

So  I  have  gathered.  They  remain  among  the 
unbought. 

GBACIOSA 

(Returning,  sits  upon  the  bench,  and  speaks  re 
gretfully.)  But  they  have  never  any  luck.  Cousin 
Pietro  contrived  to  have  a  beam  dropped  on  Egla 
more  's  head,  and  it  missed  him  by  not  half  a  foot — 

GUIDO 
Ah,  yes,  I  remember. 

GRACIOSA 

And  Cousin  Georgio  stabbed  him  in  the  back 
one  night,  but  the  coward  had  on  chain-armor  un 
der  his  finery — 

GUIDO 

I  remember  that  also. 

28 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


GKACIOSA 

And  Uncle  Lorenzo  poisoned  his  soup,  but  a 
pet  dog  got  at  it  first.  That  was  very  unfortunate. 

GUIDO 
Yes,  the  dog  seemed  to  think  so,  I  remember. 

GBACIOSA 

However,  perseverance  is  always  rewarded.  So 
I  still  hope  that  one  or  another  of  my  kinsmen 
will  contrive  to  kill  this  Eglamore  before  I  go  to 
court. 

GUIDO 

(Sits  at  her  feet.)  Has  my  Lord  Balthazar  yet 
set  a  day  for  that  presentation? 

GEACIOSA 
Not  yet. 

GUIDO 

I  wish  to  have  this  Eglamore 's  accounts  all  set 
tled  by  that  date. 

GEACIOSA 

But  in  three  months,  Guido,  I  shall  be  sixteen. 
My  sisters  went  to  court  when  they  were  sixteen. 

GUIDO 

In  fact,  a  noble  who  is  not  rich  cannot  afford  to 
continue  supporting  a  daughter  who  is  salable  in 
marriage. 

29 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


GEACIOSA 

No,  of  course  not.  (She  speaks  in  the  most  mat 
ter-of-fact  tone  possible.  Then,  more  impulsively, 
the  girl  slips  down  from  the  bench,  and  sits  by 
him  on  the  ground.)  Do  you  think  I  shall  make 
as  good  a  match  as  my  sisters,  Guido?  Do  you 
think  some  great  rich  nobleman  will  marry  me 
very  soon  f  And  shall  I  like  the  court  ?  What  shall 
I  see  there? 

GUIDO 

Marvels.  I  think — yes,  I  am  afraid  that  you  will 
like  them. 

GBACIOSA 
And  Duke  Alessandro — shall  I  like  him? 

GUIDO 

Few  courtiers  have  expressed  dislike  of  him  in 
my  presence. 

GBACIOSA 
Do  you  like  him?    Does  he  too  buy  lavishly? 

GUIDO 

Eh,  madonna !  some  day,  when  you  have  seen  his 
jewels — 

GBACIOSA 
Oh!  I  shall  see  them  when  I  go  to  court? 

GUIDO 

Yes,  he  will  show  them  to  you,  I  think,  without 

30 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


fail,  for  the  Duke  loves  beauty  in  all  its  forms. 
So  he  will  take  pleasure  in  confronting  the  bright 
ness  of  your  eyes  with  the  brightness  of  the  four 
kinds  of  sapphires,  of  the  twelve  kinds  of  rubies, 
and  of  many  extraordinary  pearls — 

GBACIOSA 
(With  eyes  shining,  and  lips  parted.)    Oh! 

GUIDO 

And  you  will  see  his  famous  emerald  necklace, 
and  all  his  diamonds,  and  his  huge  turquoises, 
which  will  make  you  ashamed  of  your  poor  talis 
man — 

GBACIOSA 
He  will  show  all  these  jewels  to  me ! 

GUIDO 

(Looking  at  her,  and  still  smiling  thoughtfully.) 
He  will  show  you  the  very  finest  of  his  gems,  as 
suredly.  And  then,  worse  still,  he  will  be  making 
verses  in  your  honor. 

GBACIOSA 

It  would  be  droll  to  have  a  great  duke  making 
songs  about  me ! 

GUIDO 

It  is  a  preposterous  feature  of  Duke  Alessan- 
dro's  character  that  he  is  always  making  songs 
about  some  beautiful  thing  or  another. 

31 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


GBACIOSA 

Such  strange  songs,  Guido !    I  was  singing  over 
one  of  them  just  before  you  came, — 

Let  me  have  dames  and  damsels  richly  clad 

To  feed  and  tend  my  mirth, 
Singing  by  day  and  night  to  make  me  glad — 

But  I  could  not  quite  understand  it.    Are  his  songs 
thought  good? 

GUIDO 
The  songs  of  a  reigning  duke  are  always  good. 

GKACIOSA 
And  is  he  as  handsome  as  people  report! 

GUIDO 
Tastes  differ,  of  course — 

GRACIOSA 
And  is  he — ? 

GUIDO 

I  have  a  portrait  of  the  Duke.    It  does  not,  I 
think,  unduly  flatter  him.    Will  you  look  at  itf 

GRACIOSA 
Yes,  yes ! 

GUIDO 

(Drawing  out  a  miniature  on  a  chain.)    Here  is 
the  likeness. 

GRACIOSA 

But  how  should  you — ? 

32 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


GUIDO 

(Seeing  her  surprise.)  Oh,  it  was  a  gift  to  me 
from  his  highness  for  a  special  service  I  did  him, 
and  as  such  must  be  treasured. 

GEACIOSA 

Perhaps,  then,  I  shall  see  you  at  court,  Messer 
Guido,  who  are  the  friend  of  princes? 

GUIDO 

If  you  do,  I  ask  only  that  in  noisy  Florence  you 
remember  this  quiet  garden. 

GBACIOSA 

(Looks  at  him  silently,  then  glances  at  the  por 
trait.  She  speaks  with  evident  disappointment.) 
Is  this  the  Duke? 

GUIDO 

You  may  see  his  arms  on  it,  and  on  the  back  his 
inscription. 

GBACIOSA 

Yes,  but — (looking  at  the  portrait  again) — but 
...  he  is  ...  so  ... 

GUIDO 

You  are  astonished  at  his  highness'  coloring! 
That  he  inherits  from  his  mother.  She  was,  you 
know,  a  blackamoor. 

GBACIOSA 

And  my  sisters  wrote  me  he  was  like  a  god ! 

33 


TEE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


GUIDO 
Such  observations  are  court  etiquette. 

GBACIOSA 

(With  an  outburst  of  disgust.)  Take  it  back! 
Though  how  can  you  bear  to  look  at  it,  far  less  to 
have  it  touching  you !  And  only  yesterday  I  was 
angry  because  I  had  not  seen  the  Duke  riding  past ! 

GUIDO 
Seen  him !  here !  riding  past ! 

GBACIOSA 

Old  Ursula  told  me  that  the  Duke  had  gone  by 
with  twenty  men,  riding  down  toward  the  convent 
at  the  border.  And  I  flung  my  sewing-bag  straight 
at  her  head  because  she  had  not  called  me. 

GUIDO 

That  was  idle  gossip,  I  fancy.  The  Duke  rarely 
rides  abroad  without  my — (he  stops) — without  my 
lavish  patron  Eglamore,  the  friend  of  all  honest 
merchants. 

GBACIOSA 

But  that  abominable  Eglamore  may  have  been 
with  him.  I  heard  nothing  to  the  contrary. 

GUIDO 

True,  madonna,  true.  I  had  forgotten  you  did 
not  see  them. 

34 


TEE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


GRACIOSA 

No.  What  is  he  like,  this  Eglamore?  Is  he  as 
appalling  to  look  at  as  the  Duke? 

GUIDO 

Madonna!  but  wise  persons  do  not  apply  such 
adjectives  to  dukes.  And  wise  persons  do  not 
criticize  Count  Eglamore 's  appearance,  either, 
now  that  Eglamore  is  indispensable  to  the  all- 
powerful  Duke  of  Florence. 

GRACIOSA 
Indispensable  ? 

GUIDO 

It  is  thanks  to  the  Eglamore  whom  you  hate  that 
the  Duke  has  ample  leisure  to  indulge  in  recrea 
tions  which  are  reputed  to  be — curious. 

GRAOIOSA 
I  do  not  understand  you,  Guido. 

GUIDO 

That  is  perhaps  quite  as  well.  (Attempting  to 
explain  as  much  as  is  decently  expressible.)  To 
be  brief,  madonna,  business  annoys  the  Duke. 

GEACIOSA 
Why? 

GUIDO 

It  interferes  with  the  pursuit  of  all  the  beautiful 
things  he  asks  for  in  that  song. 

35 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


GEACIOSA 

But  how  does  that  make  Eglamore  indispens 
able? 

GUIDO 

Eglamore  is  an  industrious  person  who  affixes 
seals,  and  signs  treaties,  and  musters  armies,  and 
collects  revenues,  upon  the  whole,  quite  as  effi 
ciently  as  Alessandro  would  be  capable  of  doing 
these  things. 

GEACIOSA 
So  Duke  Alessandro  merely  makes  verses? 

GUIDO 

And  otherwise  amuses  himself  as  his  inclinations 
prompt,  while  Eglamore  rules  Tuscany — and  the 
Tuscans  are  none  the  worse  off  on  account  of  it. 
(He  rises,  and  his  hand  goes  to  the  dagger  at  his 
belt.)  But  is  not  that  a  horseman! 

GRACIOSA 

(She  too  has  risen,  and  is  now  standing  on  the 
bench,  looking  over  the  wall.)  A  solitary  rider,  far 
down  by  the  convent,  so  far  away  that  he  seems 
hardly  larger  than  a  scarlet  dragon-fly. 

GUIDO 

I  confess  I  wish  to  run  no  risk  of  being  found 
here,  by  your  respected  father  or  by  your  ingenious 
cousins  and  uncles. 

36 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


GKACIOSA 

(She  turns,  but  remains  standing  upon  the 
bench.)  I  think  your  Duke  is  much  more  danger 
ous  looking  than  any  of  them.  Heigho !  I  can  quite 
foresee  that  I  shall  never  fall  in  love  with  this 
Duke. 

GUIDO 
A  prince  has  means  to  overcome  all  obstacles. 

GBACIOSA 

No.  It  is  unbefitting  and  a  little  cowardly  for 
Duke  Alessandro  to  shirk  the  duties  of  his  station 
for  verse-making  and  eternal  pleasure-seeking. 
Now  if  I  were  Duke- — 

GUIDO 
What  would  you  do? 

GEACIOSA 

(Posturing  a  little  as  she  stands  upon  the 
bench.)  If  I  were  duke?  Oh  ...  I  would  grant 
my  father  a  pension  .  .  .  and  I  would  have  Egla- 
more  hanged  .  .  .  and  I  would  purchase  a  new 
gown  of  silvery  green — 

GUIDO 

In  which  you  would  be  very  ravishingly  beau 
tiful. 

His  tone  has  become  rather  ardent,  and  he  is 
now  standing  nearer  to  her  than  the  size  of  the 

37 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


garden  necessitates.    So  GBACIOSA  demurely  steps 
down  from  the  bench,  and  sits  at  the  far  end. 

GBACIOSA 

And  that  is  all  I  can  think  of.  What  would  you 
do  if  you  were  duke,  Messer  Guido  ? 

GUIDO 

(Who  is  now  sitting  beside  her  at  closer  quar 
ters  than  the  length  of  the  bench  quite  strictly 
demands.)  I?  What  would  I  do  if  I  were  a  great 
lord  instead  of  a  tradesman?  (Softly.)  I  think 
you  know  the  answer,  madonna. 

GBACIOSA 

Oh,  you  would  make  me  your  duchess,  of  course. 
That  is  quite  understood.  But  I  was  speaking 
seriously,  Guido. 

GUIDO 

And  is  it  not  a  serious  matter  that  a  pedler  of 
crystals  should  have  dared  to  love  a  nobleman's 
daughter? 

GBACIOSA 
(Delighted.)    This  is  the  first  I  have  heard  of  it. 

GUIDO 

But  you  are  perfectly  right.  It  is  not  a  serious 
matter.  That  I  worship  you  is  an  affair  which 
does  not  seriously  concern  any  person  save  me  in 
any  way  whatsoever.  Yet  I  think  that  knowledge 

38 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


of  the  fact  would  put  your  father  to  the  trouble  of 
sharpening  his  dagger. 

GBACIOSA 

Ye-es.  But  not  even  Father  would  deny  that  you 
were  showing  excellent  taste. 

GUIDO 

Indeed,  I  am  not  certain  that  I  do  worship  you ; 
for  in  order  to  adore  whole-heartedly  the  idolater 
must  believe  his  idol  to  be  perfect.  (Taking  her 
hand.)  Now  your  nails  are  of  an  ugly  shape,  like 
that  of  little  fans.  Your  nose  is  nothing  to  boast 
of.  And  your  mouth  is  too  large.  I  do  not  admire 
these  faults,  for  faults  they  are  undoubtedly — 

GBACIOSA 

Do  they  make  me  very  ugly!  I  know  that  I  have 
not  a  really  good  mouth,  Guido,  but  do  you  think 
it  is  positively  repulsive  ? 

GUIDO 

No.  .  .  .  Then,  too,  I  know  that  you  are  vain 
and  self-seeking,  and  look  forward  contentedly  to 
the  time  when  your  father  will  transfer  his  owner 
ship  of  your  physical  attractions  to  that  nobleman 
who  offers  the  highest  price  for  them. 

GBACIOSA 

But  we  daughters  of  the  poor  Valori  are  com- 
39 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


pelled  to  marry — suitably.     We  have  only  the 
choice  between  that  and  the  convent  yonder. 

GUIDO 

That  is  true,  and  nobody  disputes  it.  Still,  you 
participate  in  a  monstrous  bargain,  and  I  would 
prefer  to  have  you  exhibit  distaste  for  it. 

Bending  forward,  GUIDO  draws  from  his  jewel 
pack  the  string  of  pearls,  and  this  he  moodily  con 
templates,  in  order  to  evince  his  complete  disin 
terestedness.  The  pose  has  its  effect.  GEACIOSA 
looks  at  him  for  a  moment,  rises,  draws  a  deep 
breath,  and  speaks  with  a  sort  of  humility. 

GBAOIOSA 

And  to  what  end,  Guido?  What  good  would 
weeping  do? 

GUIDO 

(Smiling  whimsically.)  I  am  afraid  that  men 
do  not  always  love  according  to  the  strict  laws  of 
logic.  (He  drops  the  pearls,  and,  rising,  follows 
her.)  I  desire  your  happiness  above  all  things, 
yet  to  see  you  so  abysmally  untroubled  by  anything 
which  troubles  me  is — another  matter. 

GBACIOSA 
But  I  am  not  untroubled,  Guido. 

GUIDO 

No! 

40 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


GBACIOSA 

No.  (Rather  tremulously.)  Sometimes  I  sit 
here  dreading  my  life  at  court.  I  want  never  to 
leave  my  father's  bleak  house.  I  fear  that  I  may 
not  like  the  man  who  offers  the  highest  price  for 
me.  And  it  seems  as  if  the  court  were  a  horrible 
painted  animal,  dressed  in  bright  silks,  and  shin 
ing  with  jewels,  and  waiting  to  devour  me. 

Beyond  the  wall  appears  a  hat  of  scarlet  satin 
with  a  divided  brim,  which,  rising,  is  revealed  to 
surmount  the  head  of  an  extraordinarily  swarthy 
person,  to  whose  dark  skin  much  powder  has  only 
loaned  the  hue  of  death:  his  cheeks,  however,  are 
vividly  carmined.  This  is  all  that  the  audience 
can  now  see  of  the  young  DUKE  of  FLOBENCE, 
whose  proximity  the  two  in  the  garden  are  just 
now  too  much  engrossed  to  notice. 

The  DUKE  looks  from  one  to  the  other.  His 
eyes  narrow,  his  teeth  are  displayed  in  a  wide 
grin;  he  now  understands  the  situation.  He  low 
ers  his  head  as  GBACIOSA  moves. 

GBACIOSA 

No,  I  am  not  untroubled.  For  I  cannot  fathom 
you,  and  that  troubles  me.  I  am  very  fond  of  you 
— and  yet  I  do  not  trust  you. 

GUIDO 

You  know  that  I  love  you. 

41 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


GBACIOSA 

You  tell  me  so.  It  pleases  me  to  have  you  say 
it— 

Gumo 
Madonna  is  candid  this  morning. 

GBACIOSA 

Yes,  I  am  candid.  It  does  please  me.  And  I 
know  that  for  the  sake  of  seeing  me  you  endanger 
your  life,  for  if  my  father  heard  of  our  meetings 
here  he  would  have  you  killed. 

GUIDO 
Would  I  incur  such  risks  without  caring? 

GRACIOSA 

No, — and  yet,  somehow,  I  do  not  believe  it  is 
altogether  for  me  that  you  care. 

The  DUKE  laughs.  GUIDO  starts,  half  drawing 
his  dagger.  GRACIOSA  turns  with  an  instinctive 
gesture  of  seeking  protection.  The  DUKE'S  head 
and  shoulders  appear  above  the  wall. 

THE  DUKE 

And  you  will  find,  my  friend,  that  the  most 
charming  women  have  just  these  awkward  intui 
tions. 

The  DUKE  ascends  the  wall,  while  the  two  stand 
motionless  and  silent.  When  he  is  on  top  of  the 
wall,  GUIDO,  who  now  remembers  that  omnipotence 

42 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


perches  there,  makes  haste  to  serve  it,  and  obse 
quiously  assists  the  DUKE  to  descend.  The  DUKE 
then  comes  well  forward,  in  smiling  meditation, 
and  hands  first  his  gloves,  then  his  scarlet  cloak 
(which  you  now  perceive  to  be  lined  ivith  ermine 
and  sable  in  four  stripes)  to  GUIDO,  who  takes  them 
as  a  servant  would  attend  his  master. 

The  removal  of  this  cloak  reveals  the  DUKE  to 
be  clad  in  a  scarlet  satin  doublet,  which  has  a  high 
military  collar  and  sleeves  puffed  with  black.  His 
tights  also  are  of  scarlet,  and  he  wears  shining 
soft  black  riding-boots.  Jewels  glisten  at  his  neck. 
About  his  middle,  too,  there  is  a  metallic  gleaming, 
for  he  is  equipped  with  a  noticeably  long  sword 
and  a  dagger.  Such  is  the  personage  who  now 
addresses  himself  more  explicitly  to  GBACIOSA. 

THE  DUKE 

(Sitting  upon  the  bench,  very  much  at  his  ease 
while  the  others  stand  uncomfortably  before  him.) 
Yes,  madonna,  I  suspect  that  Eglamore  here  cares 
greatly  for  the  fact  that  you  are  Balthazar  Valori's 
daughter,  and  cousin  to  the  late  Marquis  of  Cibo. 

GBACIOSA 
(Just  in  bewilderment.)    Eglamore! 

THE  DUKE 

For  Cibo  left  many  kinsmen.  These  still  resent 
the  circumstance  that  the  matching  of  his  wits 

43 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


against  Eglamore 's  wits  earned  for  Cibo  an  un 
pleasantly  public  death-bed.  So  they  pursue  their 
feud  against  Eglamore  with  vexatious  industry. 
And  Eglamore  goes  about  in  hourly  apprehension 
of  another  falling  beam,  another  knife-thrust  in 
the  back,  or  another  plate  of  poison. 

GBACIOSA 
(She  comprehends  now.)    Eglamore! 

THE  DUKE 

(Who  is  pleased  alike  by  Eglamore's  neat  plan 
and  by  his  own  cleverness  in  unriddling  it.)  But 
if  rich  Eglamore  should  make  a  stolen  match  with 
you,  your  father — good  thrifty  man! — could  be 
appeased  without  much  trouble.  Your  cousins, 
those  very  angry  but  penniless  Valori,  would  not 
stay  over-obdurate  to  a  kinsman  who  had  at  his 
disposal  so  many  pensions  and  public  offices. 
Honor  would  permit  a  truce  with  their  new  cousin 
Eglamore,  a  truce  very  profitable  to  everybody. 

GBACIOSA 
He  said  they  must  be  bought  somehow ! 

THE  DUKE 

Yes,  Eglamore  could  bind  them  all  to  his  interest 
within  ten  days.  All  could  be  bought  at  a  stroke 
by  marrying  you.  And  Eglamore  would  be  rid 
of  the  necessity  of  sleeping  in  chain-armor.  Have 
I  not  unraveled  the  scheme  correctly,  Eglamore? 

44 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


GUIDO 

(Smiling  and  deferential.)  Your  highness  was 
never  lacking  in  penetration. 

GBACIOSA,  at  this,  turns  puzzled  from  one  man 
to  the  other. 

GKACIOSA 
Are  you — ? 

THE  DUKE 
I  am  Alessandro  de  Medici,  madonna. 

GBACIOSA 

The  Duke! 

THE  DUKE 

A  sadly  neglected  prince,  who  wondered  over 
the  frequent  absences  of  his  chief  counselor,  and 
secretly  set  spies  upon  him.  Eglamore  here  will 
attest  as  much — (As  GRACIOSA  draws  away  from 
GUIDO) — or  if  you  cannot  believe  Eglamore  any 
longer  in  anything,  I  shall  have  other  witnesses 
within  the  half -hour.  Yes,  my  twenty  cut-throats 
are  fetching  back  for  me  a  brace  of  nuns  from  the 
convent  yonder.  I  can  imagine  that,  just  now,  my 
cut-throats  will  be  in  your  opinion  more  trust 
worthy  witnesses  than  is  poor  Eglamore.  And 
my  stout  knaves  will  presently  assure  you  that  I 
am  the  Duke. 

GUIDO 

(Suavely.)  It  happens  that  not  a  moment  ago 
we  were  admiring  your  highness'  portrait. 

45 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


GEACIOSA 

And  so  you  are  Count  Eglamore.  That  is  very 
strange.  So  it  was  the  hand  of  Eglamore  (rub 
bing  her  hands  as  if  to  clean  them)  that  I  touched 
just  now.  I  thought  it  was  the  hand  of  my  friend 
Guido.  But  I  forget.  There  is  no  Guido.  You  are 
Eglamore.  It  is  strange  you  should  have  been 
capable  of  so  much  wickedness,  for  to  me  you  seem 
only  a  smirking  and  harmless  lackey. 

The  DUKE  is  watching  as  if  at  a  play.  He  is 
aesthetically  pleased  by  the  girl's  anguish.  GUIDO 
winces.  As  GKACIOSA  begins  again  to  speak,  they 
turn  facing  her,  so  that  to  the  audience  the  faces 
of  both  men  are  invisible. 

GBAOIOSA 

And  it  was  you  who  detected — so  you  said — the 
Marquis  of  Cibo's  conspiracy.  Tebaldeo  was  my 
cousin,  Count  Eglamore.  I  loved  him.  We  were 
reared  together.  We  used  to  play  here  in  this  gar 
den.  I  remember  how  Tebaldeo  once  fetched  me  a 
wren's  nest  from  that  maple  yonder.  I  stood  just 
here.  I  was  weeping,  because  I  was  afraid  he 
would  fall.  If  he  had  fallen,  if  he  had  been  killed 
then,  it  would  have  been  the  luckier  for  him.  They 
say  that  he  conspired.  I  do  not  know.  I  only 
know  that  by  your  orders,  Count  Eglamore,  my 
playmate  Tebaldeo  was  fastened  to  a  cross,  like 
that  (pointing  to  the  shrine).  I  know  that  his 

46 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


arms  and  legs  were  each  broken  in  two  places  with 
an  iron  bar.  I  know  that  this  cross  was  then  set 
upon  a  pivot,  so  that  it  turned  slowly.  I  know  that 
my  dear  Tebaldeo  died  very  slowly  in  the  sunlit 
marketplace,  while  the  cross  turned,  and  turned, 
and  turned.  I  know  this  was  a  public  holiday ;  the 
shopkeepers  took  holiday  to  watch  him  die,  the  boy 
who  fetched  me  a  wren's  nest  from  yonder  maple. 
And  I  know  that  you  are  Eglamore,  who  ordered 
these  things  done. 

GUIDO 

I  gave  orders  for  the  Marquis  of  Cibo's  execu 
tion,  as  was  the  duty  of  my  office.  I  did  not  devise 
the  manner  of  his  punishment.  The  punishment 
for  Cibo's  crime  was  long  ago  fixed  by  our  laws. 
All  who  attack  the  Duke's  person  must  die  thus. 

GBACIOSA 

(Waves  his  excuses  aside.)  And  then  you  plan 
this  masquerade.  You  plan  to  make  me  care  for 
you  so  greatly  that  even  when  I  know  you  to  be 
Count  Eglamore  I  must  still  care  for  you.  You 
plan  to  marry  me,  so  as  to  placate  Tebaldeo 's  kins 
men,  so  as  to  leave  them — in  your  huckster's 
phrase — no  longer  unbought.  It  was  a  fine  bold 
stroke  of  policy,  I  know,  to  use  me  as  a  stepping- 
stone  to  safety.  But  was  it  fair  to  met 

GUIDO 

Graciosa  .  .  .  you  shame  me — 
47 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


GRACIOSA 

Look  you,  Count  Eglamore,  I  was  only  a  child, 
playing  here,  alone,  and  not  unhappy.  Oh,  was 
it  fair,  was  it  worth  while  to  match  your  skill 
against  my  ignorance? 

THE  DUKE 

Fie,  Donna  Graciosa,  you  must  not  be  too  harsh 
with  Eglamore — 

GRACIOSA 

Think  how  unhappy  I  would  be  if  even  now  I 
loved  you,  and  how  I  would  loathe  myself! 

THE  DUKE 

It  is  his  nature  to  scheme,  and  he  weaves  his 
plots  as  inevitably  as  the  spider  does  her  web — 

GRACIOSA 

But  I  am  getting  angry  over  nothing.  Nothing 
has  happened  except  that  I  have  dreamed — of  a 
Guido.  And  there  is  no  Guido.  There  is  only  an 
Eglamore,  a  lackey  in  attendance  upon  his  master. 

THE  DUKE 

Believe  me,  it  is  wiser  to  forget  this  clever 
lackey — as  I  do — except  when  there  is  need  of  his 
services.  I  think  that  you  have  no  more  need  to 
consider  him — 

He  takes  the  girl's  hand.  GRACIOSA  now  looks  at 
him  as  though  seeing  him  for  the  first  time.  She 

48 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


is  vaguely  frightened  by  this  predatory  beast,  but 
in  the  main  her  emotion  is  as  yet  bewilderment. 

THE  DUKE 

For  you  are  very  beautiful,  Graciosa,  You  are 
as  slim  as  a  lily,  and  more  white.  Your  eyes  are 
two  purple  mirrors  in  each  of  which  I  see  a  tiny 
image  of  Duke  Alessandro.  (Gumo  takes  a  step 
forward,  and  the  DUKE  now  addresses  him  af 
fably.)  Those  nuns  they  are  fetching  me  are  big 
high-colored  wenches  with  cheeks  like  apples.  It 
is  not  desirable  that  women  should  be  so  large. 
Such  women  do  not  inspire  a  poet.  Women  should 
be  little  creatures  that  fear  you.  They  should  have 
thin  plaintive  voices,  and  in  shrinking  from  you 
should  be  as  slight  to  the  touch  as  a  cobweb.  It  is 
not  possible  to  draw  inspiration  from  a  woman's 
beauty  unless  you  comprehend  how  easy  it  would 
be  to  murder  her. 

GUIDO 

(Softly,  without  expression.)    God,  God! 

The  DUKE  looks  with  delight  at  GRACIGSA,  who 
stands  bewildered  and  childlike. 

THE  DUKE 

You  fear  me,  do  you  not,  Graciosa  I  Your  hand 
is  soft  and  cold  as  the  skin  of  a  viper.  When  I 
touch  it  you  shudder.  I  am  very  tired  of  women 
who  love  me,  of  women  who  are  infatuated  by  my 

49 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


beauty.  You,  I  can  see,  are  not  infatuated.  To 
you  my  touch  will  always  be  a  martyrdom,  you  will 
always  loathe  me.  And  therefore  I  shall  not  weary 
of  you  for  a  long  while,  because  the  misery  and 
the  helplessness  of  my  lovely  victim  will  incite  me 
to  make  very  lovely  verses. 
He  draws  her  to  the  bench,  sitting  beside  her. 

THE  DUKE 

Yes,  Graciosa,  you  will  inspire  me.  Your  father 
shall  have  all  the  wealth  and  state  that  even  his 
greedy  imaginings  can  devise,  so  long  as  you  can 
contrive  to  loathe  me.  We  will  find  you  a  suitable 
husband — say,  in  Eglamore  here.  You  shall  have 
flattery  and  titles,  gold  and  fine  glass,  soft  stuffs 
and  superb  palaces  and  many  lovely  jewels — 

The  DUKE  glances  down  at  the  pedler's  pack. 

THE  DUKE 

But  Eglamore  also  has  been  wooing  you  with 
jewels.  You  must  see  mine,  dear  Graciosa. 

GRACIOSA 

(Without  expression.)  Count  Eglamore  said 
that  I  must. 

THE  DUKE 

(Raises  the  necklace,  and  lets  it  drop  contemp 
tuously.)  Oh,  not  such  trumpery  as  this.  I  have 
in  Florence  gems  which  have  not  their  fellows  any 
where,  gems  which  have  not  even  a  name,  and  the 

50 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


value  of  which  is  incalculable.  I  have  jewels 
engendered  by  the  thunder,  jewels  taken  from 
the  heart  of  the  Arabian  deer.  I  have  jewels 
cut  from  the  brain  of  a  toad,  and  from  the  eyes  of 
serpents.  I  have  jewels  which  are  authentically 
known  to  have  fallen  from  the  moon.  Well,  we 
will  select  the  rarest,  and  have  a  pair  of  slippers 
encrusted  with  them,  and  in  these  slippers  you 
shall  dance  for  me,  in  a  room  that  I  know  of — 

GUIDO 
(Without  moving.)    Highness — ! 

THE  DUKE 

It  will  all  be  very  amusing,  for  I  think  that  she  is 
now  quite  innocent,  as  pure  as  the  high  angels. 
Yes,  it  will  be  diverting  to  make  her  as  I  am.  It 
will  be  an  atrocious  action  that  will  inspire  me  to 
write  lovelier  verses  than  even  I  have  ever  written. 

GUIDO 
She  is  a  child — 

THE  DUKE 

Yes,  yes,  a  frightened  child  who  cannot  speak, 
who  stays  as  still  as  a  lark  that  has  been  taken  in 
a  snare.  Why,  neither  of  her  sisters  can  compare 
with  this,  and,  besides,  the  elder  one  had  a  quite 
ugly  mole  upon  her  thigh — But  that  old  rogue  Bal 
thazar  Valori  has  a  real  jewel  to  offer,  this  time. 
Well,  I  will  buy  it. 

51 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


GUIDO 
Highness,  I  love  this  child — 

THE  DUKE 

Ah,  then  you  cannot  ever  be  her  husband.  You 
would  have  suited  otherwise.  But  we  will  find 
some  other  person  of  discretion — 

For  a  moment  the  two  men  regard  each  other  in 
silence.  The  DUKE  becomes  aware  that  he  is  being 
opposed.  His  brows  contract  a  little,  but  he  rises 
from  the  bench  rather  as  if  in  meditation  than  in 
anger.  Then  GUIDO  drops  the  cloak  and  gloves  he 
has  been  holding  until  this.  His  lackeyship  is 
over. 

GUIDO 
No! 

THE  DUKE 

My  friend,  some  long-faced  people  say  you  made 
a  beast  of  me — 

GUIDO 
No,  I  will  not  have  it. 

THE  DUKE 

So  do  you  beware  lest  the  beast  turn  and  rend 
you. 

GUIDO 

I  have  never  been  too  nice  to  profit  by  your  vices. 
I  have  taken  my  thrifty  toll  of  abomination.  I 
have  stood  by  contentedly,  not  urging  you  on,  yet 

52 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


never  trying  to  stay  you  as  you  waded  deeper  and 
ever  deeper  into  the  filth  of  your  debaucheries,  be 
cause  meanwhile  you  left  me  so  much  power. 

THE  DUKE 

Would  you  reshape  your  handiwork  more 
piously?  Come,  come,  man,  be  content  with  it  as 
I  am.  And  be  content  with  the  kingdom  I  leave  you 
to  play  with. 

GUIDO 

It  was  not  altogether  I  who  made  of  you  a  brain 
sick  beast.  But  what  you  are  is  in  part  my  handi 
work.  Nevertheless,  you  shall  not  harm  this  child. 

THE  DUKE 

"Shall  not"  is  a  delightfully  quaint  expression. 
I  only  regret  that  you  are  not  likely  ever  to  use  it 
to  me  again. 

GUIDO 
I  know  this  means  my  ruin. 

THE  DUKE 

Indeed,  I  must  venture  to  remind  you,  Count 
Eglamore,  that  I  am  still  a  ruling  prince — 

GUIDO 
That  is  nothing  to  me. 

THE  DUKE 

And  that,  where  you  are  master  of  very  admir- 

53 


TEE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


able  sentiments,  I  happen  to  be  master  of  all  Tus 
cany. 

GUIDO 

At  court  you  are  the  master.  At  your  court  in 
Florence  I  have  seen  many  mothers  raise  the  veil 
from  their  daughters'  faces  because  you  were 
passing.  But  here  upon  this  hill-top  I  can  see  only 
the  woman  I  love  and  the  man  who  has  insulted 
her. 

THE  DUKE 

So  all  the  world  is  changed,  and  Pandarus  is 
transformed  into  Hector!  Your  words  are  very 
sonorous  words,  dear  Eglamore,  but  by  what  deeds 
do  you  propose  to  back  them? 

GUIDO 
By  killing  you,  your  highness. 

THE  DUKE 

But  in  what  manner?  By  stifling  me  with  virtu 
ous  rhetoric?  Hah,  it  is  rather  awkward  for  you — 
is  it  not — that  our  sumptuary  laws  forbid  you 
merchants  to  carry  swords? 

GUIDO 

(Draws  his  dagger.)  I  think  this  knife  will 
serve  me,  highness,  to  make  earth  a  cleaner  place. 

THE  DUKE 

(Drawing  his  long  sword.)    It  would  save  trou- 
54 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


ble  now  to  split  you  like  a  chicken  for  roasting  .  .  . 
(He  sh rugs,  and,  sheathes  his  sword.  He  un 
buckles  his  sword-belt,  and  lays  it  aside.)  No,  no, 
this  farce  ascends  in  interest.  So  let  us  play  it 
fairly  to  the  end.  I  risk  nothing,  since  from  this 
moment  you  are  useless  to  me,  my  rebellious 
lackey — 

GUIDO 

You  risk  your  life,  for  very  certainly  I  mean  to 
kill  you. 

THE  DUKE 

Two  go  to  every  bargain,  my  friend.  Now,  if  I 
kill  you,  it  is  always  diverting  to  kill;  and  if  by 
any  chance  you  should  kill  me,  I  shall  at  least  be 
rid  of  the  intolerable  knowledge  that  to-morrow 
will  be  just  like  to-day. 

He  draws  his  dagger.  The  two  men  engage 
warily  but  ivith  determination,  the  DUKE  presently 
advancing.  GUIDO  steps  backward,  and  in  the  act 
trips  over  the  pedler's  pack,  and  falls  prostrate. 
His  dagger  flies  from  his  hand.  GBACIOSA,  with  a 
little  cry,  has  covered  her  face.  Nobody  strikes 
an  attitude,  because  nobody  is  conscious  of  any 
need  to  be  heroic,  but  there  is  a  perceptible  silence, 
which  is  broken  by  the  DUKE'S  quiet  voice. 

THE  DUKE 

Well!  am  I  to  be  kept  waiting  forever!  You 
were  quicker  in  obeying  my  caprices  yesterday. 

55 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


Get  up,  you  muddy  lout,  and  let  us  kill  each  other 
with  some  pretension  of  adroitness. 

GUIDO 

(Rising,  with  a  sob.)    Ah! 

He  catches  up  the  fallen  dagger,  and  attacks  the 
DUKE,  this  time  with  utter  disregard  of  the  rules  of 
fence  and  his  own  safety.  GUIDO  drives  the  DUKE 
back.  GUIDO  is  careless  of  defence,  and  desirous 
only  to  kill.  The  DUKE  is  wounded,  and  falls 
with  a  cry  at  the  foot  of  the  shrine.  GUIDO  utters 
a  sort  of  strangled  growl.  He  raises  his  dagger, 
intending  to  hack  at  and  mutilate  his  antagonist, 
who  is  now  unconscious.  As  GUIDO  stoops,  GBA 
CIOSA,  from  behind  him,  catches  his  arm. 

GBACIOSA 

He  gave  you  your  life. 

GUIDO  turns.  He  drops  the  iveapon.  He  speaks 
with  great  gentleness,  almost  with  weariness. 

GUIDO 

Madonna,  the  Duke  is  not  yet  dead.  That  wound 
is  nothing  serious. 

GBACIOSA 
He  spared  your  life. 

GUIDO 

It  is  impossible  to  let  him  live. 

56 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


GEACIOSA 
But  I  think  he  only  voiced  a  caprice — 

GUIDO 

I  think  so,  too,  but  I  know  that  all  this  mad 
man's  whims  are  ruthless. 

GBACIOSA 
But  you  have  power — 

GUIDO 

Power!  I,  who  have  attacked  the  Duke's  per 
son!  I,  who  have  done  what  your  dead  cousin 
merely  planned  to  do ! 

GBACIOSA 
Guido— ! 

GUIDO 

Living,  this  brain-sick  beast  will  make  of  you 

his  plaything — and,  a  little  later,  his  broken,  soiled 

and  cast-by  plaything.  It  is  therefore  necessary 

that  I  kill  Duke  Alessandro. 

GBACIOSA  moves  away  from  him,  and  GUIDO  rises. 

GBACIOSA 

And  afterward — and  afterward  you  must  die 
just  as  Tebaldeo  died ! 

GUIDO 

That  is  the  law,  madonna.  But  what  he  said 
is  true.  I  am  useless  to  him,  a  rebellious  lackey 

57 


TEE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


to  be  punished.    Whether  I  have  his  life  or  no,  I 
am  a  lost  man. 

GBACIOSA 

A  moment  since  you  were  Count  Eglamore, 
whom  all  our  nobles  feared — 

GUIDO 

Now  there  is  not  a  beggar  in  the  kingdom  who 
would  change  lots  with  me.  But  at  least  I  shall 
first  kill  this  kingdom's  lord. 

He  picks  up  his  dagger. 

GBACIOSA 

You  are  a  friendless  and  hunted  man,  in  peril  of 
a  dreadful  death.  But  even  so,  you  are  not  penni 
less.  These  jewels  here  are  of  great  value — 

GUIDO  laughs,  and  hangs  the  pearls  about  her 
neck. 

GUIDO 
Do  you  keep  them,  then. 

GBACIOSA 

There  is  a  world  outside  this  kingdom.  You 
have  only  to  make  your  way  through  the  forest 
to  be  out  of  Tuscany. 

GUIDO 

(Coolly  reflective.)  Perhaps  I  might  escape, 
going  north  to  Bologna,  and  then  to  Venice,  which 
is  at  war  with  the  Duke — 

58 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


GBACIOSA 
I  can  tell  you  the  path  to  Bologna. 

GUIDO 

But  first  the  Duke  must  die,  because  his  death 
saves  you. 

GRACIOSA 

No,  Guido!  I  would  have  Eglamore  go  hence 
with  hands  as  clean  as  possible. 

GUIDO 

Not  even  Eglamore  would  leave  you  at  the 
mercy  of  this  poet. 

GBACIOSA 

How  does  that  matter!  It  is  no  secret  that  my 
father  intends  to  market  me  as  best  suits  his  in 
terests.  And  the  great  Duke  of  Florence,  no  less, 
would  have  been  my  purchaser !  You  heard  him, 
"I  will  buy  this  jewel,"  he  said.  He  would  have 
paid  thrice  what  any  of  my  sisters'  purchasers 
have  paid.  You  know  very  well  that  my  father 
would  have  been  delighted. 

GUIDO 

(Since  the  truth  of  what  she  has  just  said  is 
known  to  him  by  more  startling  proofs  than  she 
dreams  of,  he  speaks  rather  bitterly,  as  he 
sheathes  the  dagger.)  And  I  must  need  upset  the 
bargain  between  these  jewel  merchants! 

59 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


GBACIOSA 

(Lightly.)  "No,  I  will  not  have  it!"  Count 
Eglamore  must  cry.  (Her  hand  upon  his  arm.) 
My  dear  unthrifty  pedler !  it  cost  you  a  great  deal 
to  speak  those  words. 

GUIDO 

I  had  no  choice.  I  love  you.  (A  pause.  As 
GRACIOSA  does  not  speak,  GUIDO  continues ,  very 
quiet  at  first.)  It  is  a  theme  on  which  I  shall  not 
embroider.  So  long  as  I  thought  to  use  you  as 
an  instrument  I  could  woo  fluently  enough.  To 
day  I  saw  that  you  were  frightened  and  helpless — 
oh,  quite  helpless.  And  something  in  me  changed. 
I  knew  for  the  first  time  that  I  loved  you.  And 
I  knew  I  was  not  clean  as  you  are  clean.  I  knew 
that  I  had  more  in  common  with  this  beast  here 
than  I  had  with  you. 

GBACIOSA 

( Who  with  feminine  practicality,  while  the  man 
talks,  has  reached  her  decision.)  We  daughters 
of  the  Valori  are  so  much  merchandise  .  .  . 
Heigho,  since  I  cannot  help  it,  since  bought  and 
sold  I  must  be,  one  day  or  another,  at  least  I  will 
go  at  a  noble  price.  Yet  I  do  not  think  I  am  quite 
worth  the  wealth  and  power  which  you  have  given 
up  because  of  me.  So  it  will  be  necessary  to  make 
up  the  difference,  dear,  by  loving  you  very  much. 

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GUIDO  takes  her  hands,  only  half-believing  that 
he  understands  her  meaning.  He  puts  an  arm 
about  her  shoulder,  holding  her  at  a  distance,  the 
better  to  see  her  face. 

GUIDO 

You,  who  had  only  scorn  to  give  me  when  I  was 
a  kingdom's  master!  Would  you  go  with  me  now 
that  I  am  homeless  and  friendless ! 

GEACIOSA 

(Archly.)  But  to  me  you  do  not  seem  quite 
friendless. 

GUIDO 
Graciosa — ! 

GRACIOSA 

And  I  doubt  if  you  could  ever  find  your  way 
through  the  forest  alone.  (But  as  she  stands  there 
with  one  hand  raised  to  each  of  his  shoulders  her 
vindication  is  self-revealed,  and  she  indicates  her 
bracelet  rather  indignantly.)  Besides,  what  else 
is  a  poor  maid  to  do,  when  she  is  burdened  with  a 
talisman  that  compels  her  to  marry  the  man  whom 
she — so  very  much — prefers? 

GUIDO 

(Drawing  her  to  him.)  Ah,  you  shall  not  regret 
that  foolish  preference. 

61 


THE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


GBAOIOSA 

But  come!  There  is  a  path — (They  are  gather 
ing  up  the  pack  and  its  contents,  as  GUIDO  pauses 
by  the  DUKE.)  Is  he — ? 

GUIDO 

He  will  not  enter  Hell  to-day.  (The  DUKE 
stirs.)  Already  he  revives,  you  see.  So  let  us  be 
gone  before  his  attendants  come. 

GUIDO  lifts  her  to  the  top  of  the  wall.  He  lifts 
up  the  pack. 

GBAOIOSA 
.  My  lute! 

GUIDO 

(Giving  it  to  her.)  So  we  may  pass  for  min 
strels  on  the  road  to  Venice. 

GEAOIOSA 

Yes,  singing  the  Duke's  songs  to  pay  our  way. 
(  GUIDO  climbs  over  the  wall,  and  stands  on  the  far 
side,  examining  the  landscape  beneath.)  Horse 
men! 

GUIDO 

The  Duke's  attendants  fetching  him  new  women 
— two  more  of  those  numerous  damsels  that  his 
song  demands.  They  will  revive  this  ruinous 
songmaker  to  rule  over  Tuscany  more  foolishly 
than  Eglamore  governed  when  Eglamore  was  a 
great  lord.  (He  speaks  pensively,  still  looking 

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TEE  JEWEL  MERCHANTS 


down.)  It  is  a  very  rich  and  lovely  country,  this 
kingdom  which  a  half -hour  since  lay  in  the  hollow 
of  my  hand.  Now  I  am  empty-handed. 

GBACIOSA 

( With  mocking  reproach. )    Empty-handed ! 
She  extends  to  him  both  her  hands.    GUIDO  takes 
them,  and  laughs  joyously,  saying,  "Come!"  as 
he  lifts  her  down. 

There  is  a  moment's  silence,  then  is  heard  the 
song  and  lute-playing  ivith  which  the  play  began, 
growing  ever  more  distant:  .  .  . 
"Knights  as  my  serfs  be  given; 
And  as  I  will,  let  music  go  and  come." 
.  .  .  The  DUKE  moves.    The  DUKE  half  raises  him 
self  at  the  foot  of  the  crucifix. 

THE  DUKE 
Eglamore !    I  am  hurt.    Help  me,  Eglamore ! 


(THE  CURTAIN  FALLS) 


63 


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MAR  24  1933 


JUN  »6  W3t 


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DEC  311959 


LD  21-50m-l/3; 


U.  C.  BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


